Refer to Him as The Boy in the Blue Shorts...

As we were leaving Noah's preschool, Noah pointed to a couple of classmates and said, "Can we have Caleb and Carter come over and play at our house?" As we continued to walk, I told him that we can certainly ask their mommy or daddy. He pointed at a van and said, "There he is! There's their daddy! The big fat man over there!" I wasn't really shocked at this because my son does not have a filter, but I did look around to see if I needed to perform damage control. I am not skinny. In fact, I am a "fat woman" if you ask Noah.

As we are leaving a store, Noah asked if we could play with the little black boy. Now, some people may not take offense to this. Maybe that little boy was asking his daddy if he could play with the little white boy. I now knew that this is the time I need to sit down and teach a short but effective lesson to our boy.

God made each person different. We are all "red and yellow, black and white..." and "precious in his sight." Jeremiah 1:5 says, "Before I created you in the womb, I knew you." and Luke 12:7 says, "Even the hairs on your head are all counted." Why do we refer to one another as the black man, the white woman, the Indian, the Mexican, the red-head, etc. I have taught my son these things. I have asked him not to refer to them by their outer appearance, but by their name or maybe a piece of clothing they are wearing that day. If you don't know their name, ask it. If you don't know their name, say you want to play with the "boy in the blue shorts."